Kathy Sorenson

Director of People and Culture at Premier Inn MENA

Speaker

Kathy Sorenson, Director of People and Culture at Premier Inn Middle East, is a seasoned HR professional with nearly 30 years’ global experience through in-house and consultancy roles in New Zealand, Canada and, for the last 14 years, the UAE.

After running a successful Dubai-based HR consultancy for six years, Kathy joined Premier Inn in 2018 to redesign and centralise the HR function, focusing on driving team engagement and company culture as well as overseeing all HR activities at the company’s Middle East corporate office and 11 hotels in the UAE and Qatar.

Kathy plays a leading role in delivering new team member focused initiatives, including Premier Inn’s in-house Moon & Stars awards programme and One Team One Heartbeat, the company’s culture, training and development programme. She is also pivotal in achieving the company’s continued record-breaking team member engagement scores and is the driving force of Premier Inn’s employee development policy that continuously invests in its people and promotes from within wherever possible.